Yesterday's News: All but one died in Webster County fire in 1938

An 11-year-old girl had to be physically restrained from running back into her blazing farmhouse in Webster County back in 1938.

"My mother's burning up in there," Helen Louise Gibson shouted as a Sebree couple who had seen the flames rushed up in time to hold her back.

It wasn't just her mother who died that night. The girl's entire family — her parents and four siblings — burned in that blaze, which occurred May 11, 1938, about halfway between Poole and Dixon on U.S. 41-Alternate.

The victims were Elliott Gibson, 30; his wife Mabel, 28; Kathyleen, 9; William, 7, who went by his middle name of Raymond; John, 4; and the baby James, who was only 10 months old.

Helen "was awakened by suffocating smoke and she escaped from the raging inferno," The Gleaner reported May 13. "After arousing her father the small girl fled to the front porch in her night clothing." Her father "rushed toward the kitchen where the flames apparently started and it was there that he perished."

Salesman Clay M. Conner and his wife Lola were traveling along the highway when they noticed the house in flames, which apparently originated with the family's cook stove. Conner broke out a window and could see Mabel Gibson lying on a bed. He seized her by a foot and attempted to drag her through the window "but a blast of flames seared his face and arms and drove him back.

Lola Conner told The Gleaner that she had seen Elliott Gibson stumble toward the kitchen. "It was all afire and he fell and didn't get up," she said. His charred body was later found where the kitchen had stood.

The bodies of three of Helen's siblings were found where they had slept, while the baby was found near the body of the mother.

"I slept with all the other kids but the baby, who slept with mother and daddy," Helen tearfully told The Gleaner.

"I was awakened late in the night; I couldn't hardly breathe. The room was filled with smoke.

"I screamed ‘Daddy, Daddy!' and grabbed my dress and ran out on the front porch. Daddy went toward the kitchen and I think I heard him fall."

Neighbors were attracted by the flames, "but they stood helplessly by and watched the home destroyed and the six persons perish. There was nothing they could do."

The house was on a farm owned by Dixon attorney Jesse M. Rayburn and it was relatively new. It had replaced another house destroyed by fire two years previously, in which the Gibsons had lost all of their belongings. "That fire was also at night and it was caused by a defective flue."

Elliott Gibson's father, who was unnamed in The Gleaner's story, had lived with the family but he escaped death because he was absent that night.

Only two caskets were needed when the victims were buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Clay, The Gleaner reported May 14 under a Clay dateline.

"In one casket the bodies of the father, Elliott Gibson, and the two oldest sons, Raymond, 7, and John, 4, were placed, and in the other the bodies of the mother Mabel, 28, a daughter, Kathyleen, 9, and their baby, James Elliott, 10 months.

"Hundreds crowded into the General Baptist church here to attend the funeral services for the victims of one of Webster County's most horrible tragedies. Conspicuous among the mourners was the only surviving child, Helen Louise, who sobbed bitterly while the Rev. J.W. Oakley solemnly conducted the final rites."

The poor girl apparently never married and died in the Louisville area in 1989. Perhaps she was so traumatized by the horrific loss of her entire family that she didn't want to risk having to face the loss of a loved one again.

100 years ago

The city of Henderson was looking at developing a park in the East End — something that is just now starting to take place a century later.

Mayor I.W. Thompson, "always on the alert to beautify the city," was advocating the city purchase a lot for park purposes, as well as for drilling a public well there, which the Henderson City Council had just authorized, The Gleaner reported May 10, 1913.

If a lot could be obtained for a reasonable price, Thompson said, it would be planted with grass, flowers and trees. Seating and a band stand were also proposed.

The city of Henderson, with funding assistance from Henderson Fiscal Court, is currently in the process of developing a community park at Letcher and Helm streets, the former location of Audubon Baptist Church.

50 years ago

Henderson Circuit Court became a full-time proposition back in 1963, The Gleaner reported on May 10 of that year.

Up until then the circuit court annually held three sessions each for criminal and civil court. The criminal court terms were in January, May and September, while the civil court cases were heard in February June and October.

"Now it appears Judge (Faust) Simpson will be more or less on call throughout the year," The Gleaner reported.

The change met with the approval of local attorneys, one of whom called it "a step in the right direction."

25 years ago

The body of a newborn infant wrapped in a towel was found in a trash can at Henderson County High School by a custodian, The Gleaner reported May 12, 1988.

Officials released few details about the incident, saying that it involved a "confidential juvenile matter." A 15-year-old girl was charged, but they declined to release the type of charges.

The assistant county attorney quoted a newly passed statute that read, "All police records regarding children who have not reached their 18th birthday shall not be opened to scrutiny by the public."